Welcome to the Theros Beyond Death cube update. A quick primer for this update before we get into the actual cards. Firstly, I do not run an enchantment module in my cube so any card whose power is tied to its either being an enchantment or caring about enchantments is just not going to be discussed because they just aren't relevant. Secondly, I do not run a mono-colored, devotion theme in my cube either. So likewise, I won't be considering devotion something that I can reasonably attain. Because of this, all the gods are going to be assessed as if they are unlikely to ever turn into a creature. This will come up with several cards. This just saves me from having to repeat myself ad nauseum. Let's get to it.
White
In Out
Four mana wraths are a staple of cube and Shatter the Sky is no different. While it does have a drawback, it's not a strict one. You get to replace your creature if you have to wrath with a relevant threat on board and while your opponent also does, they only ever draw one card regardless of how many of their creatures die. Sometimes they just won't have a large creature at all and this is just a clean wrath effect. This is easily cubeable and fits right in with the rest of white's mass removal suite.
Citadel Siege is a very difficult card to beat over a long, drawn out game because of its inevitability. It's best in creature decks that want to keep committing to the board so you don't run the risk of not being able to trigger the Khans ability. You almost never select the Dragons mode because Khans is just so powerful and game breaking. It's a little awkward in cube though. Control decks in cube just don't run many creatures making this only really playable in white decks. White aggro doesn't really want a four drop that has no immediate impact and takes a couple of turns to grow their small creatures big enough to be able to punch through enemy defenses. This card was so good in its original format because it was solidly mid-range and that's where this card shines. If you are doing mid-range white in cube you probably went off the rails a little bit. It's just not needed and while it has seen play, it's also awkward and not as flexible as it reads.
In Out
Settle the Wreckage is a card that I definitely misevaluated upon its initial release because I just didn't imagine that it would be any good once your opponent knows you have it. As it turns out, playing around it is really difficult and makes for some good gameplay. It's gotten good reviews and I'm okay increasing the density of wrath effects in white just a little bit. The exile effect is also relevant considering how much graveyard interaction there is spread across all the colors now.
One of my directives in recent updates is changing the cubes answer suite to noncreature spells. I don't want cards that just function as sideboard material. Seal of Cleansing is an on board trick that only answers select threats. It's relevant but doesn't fit into any decks game plan and is never drafted very highly. People hate draft it but it rarely ever actually sees play. It's just taking up a slot. I'm very interested in introducing some main deck answers to artifacts/enchantments across the other colors but white needs narrow answers like this the least since it already has access to so many effects that deal with troublesome permanents.
Didn't Make the Cut
I'm always in the market for a defensive two drop to help control decks not get run over but this really isn't Wall of Omens. Having to wait a turn for your creature is crippling. It makes it a terrible top deck late and an awkward play early in the game. The value is all there but getting it piece mealed like this means you aren't getting your effects when you need them most.
Omen of the Sun is an obvious analogue to Raise the Alarm, a cube staple that I'm not running. I haven't found the flash impactful enough in white since it does so much of its heavy lifting at sorcery speed. The life gain here also isn't that relevant because aggro decks don't care about their life total and control decks don't care about two small creatures. Three mana is a lot for this effect and the Scry, while nice, doesn't do enough to warrant its inclusion.
Didn't Make the Cut
Taranika seems like she represents a lot of damage and the ability to push through blockers but there are a couple problems here. At most, she only ever adds an additional 1-3 damage per attack and because she isn't creating new threats she only functions if you already have a board state. Her body isn't very good and because she has to attack in order to trigger, she likely won't be able to attack more than once or twice a game. You can't make her indestructible so she is an easy block. It all adds up to an awkward card that functions well when ahead and racing but dramatically falls off with any opposition and provides no value when behind or on an empty board. Aggro cards juke quadrant theory pretty well because of how focused the strategy is but they need to really shine in their best case scenario and this just doesn't.
Eidolon of Obstruction is probably going to fit very nicely in a lot of cubes as a hate bear that restricts planeswalkers. My cube limits the amount of planeswalkers and doesn't have a dedicated hate bear deck so it's mostly a french vanilla body which obviously isn't strong enough. The ability just won't be relevant enough of the time to make it anything more than that.
Didn't Make the Cut
Life gain is very good in cube when tacked on to something that is already powerful. Unfortunately, this just isn't very good unless you are running a high density of artifacts. I already spoke to wanting to only include artifact/enchantment destruction on main deck cards and this doesn't meet that threshold.
Sagas have a tough time in cube because of the piece meal nature of their abilities. It's tough to justify an overcosted initial effect and then have to rely on the board state and opponent cooperating enough to allow your telegraphed abilities to still be impactful several turns down the road. The game just pivots so quickly in cube that two turns from now is an eternity. The best Sagas get around this by being difficult to disrupt, having a very impactful initial effect and not being entirely reliant on the game state for the last ability to be relevant. Elspeth Conquers Death checks all these boxes with removal, disruption and reanimation. There are only so many slots that can be dedicated to five drops though and this is just generically good. It's really only good in control and the middle ability is going to completely whiff a good majority of the time. For five mana you need to be game breaking. This just isn't. The power is entirely tied up into getting an impactful card with the exile and reanimating something impactful with the last. If you don't do both of those you are getting crushed on your mana investment.
Didn't Make the Cut
Heliod is really only playable under two circumstances. Either you are able to reliably turn it into a creature on curve or you are abusing its counter ability to combo out. My cube is too large to reliably put together combo pieces as you aren't even guaranteed to see them both in the same draft. This is extra true since I regularly cube with less than 8 people, further reducing the amount of cards in play at a given time. As a fair card that you can't really turn into a creature that often it just isn't very good.
As always, planeswalker competition is tough when you limit to three per color. This just doesn't have the game ending ability of Elspeth, Sun's Champion and lines up more aptly against Elspeth, Knight-Errant and Gideon, Ally of Zendikar. Not having a plus ability greatly reduces the power of Elspeth, Sun's Nemesis compared to the previously mentioned planeswalkers. The Escape promises a repeat casting and further use of her abilities but the cost is steep. White isn't apt at loading its graveyard so you aren't using this ability more than once per game and six mana is very steep. Multiple bodies are always good and her pump similarly promises a lot of extra damage for your smaller creatures to trade up or shorten the race. The life gain is the weakest ability but will be used occasionally to offset a poor start or to win a race. I just don't think she stacks up to the competition that promises game ending inevitability and the same ability to go wide. If you don't limit your planeswalkers I think Elspeth, Sun's Nemesis is going to do some work but I also think she's just another white planeswalker and the competition is steep. I think the biggest knock against her though is that Escape isn't actually good game play. It's repetitive and not fun on a card as impactful as a planeswalker. I don't particularly like the game play loop this promises if it turns out to actually be good meaning that even if this does over perform, it still doesn't make me happy.
In Out
Preordain at instant speed is a big game even if it does cost an extra mana. Anything that allows the decks with the reactive spells to utilize their mana and keep their options open every turn is going to increase in value. The Scry two is a great bonus and works especially good in blue decks that should be able to keep its mana up on the regular.
I feel weird cutting Ancestral Vision because it's such a staple and has such a pedigree in cube. It's just not that good though. You need your value up front in cube because of how powerful all of the cards are. You just can't afford to wait four turns to actually draw your cards. The initial cost is negligible and this is great on turn one but it gets dramatically worse every turn thereafter. Late game it's completely useless which is especially awkward for card draw since it doesn't help you dig for answers whe you need them. It's just way too slow and only ever gets played when there isn't any other card draw available.
In Out
I was initially hesitant on Nadir Kraken because I wasn't sure how restrictive the mana tax would be to use the ability. In practice though, there are a couple of factors that combine to this being a really strong card. Firstly, you are guaranteed at least one trigger each turn because of your draw step. A counter and a token are a good price for a single mana. Secondly, you don't actually have to trigger this every turn or even very many turns for it to be worth your initial investment. It grows quickly and goes wide quickly. Over any sort of prolonged game this is going to be a problem for your opponent. The toughness means it can actually block aggro creatures and a single trigger takes it out of the range of most burn spells.
Chasm Skulker is just severely outclassed when compared to Nadir Kraken even if you don't have to pay mana to trigger its ability. The difference between getting your tokens immediately and having to wait for a death trigger is massive. Chasm Skulker works well with sacrifice effects but is awkward elsewhere as it starts much smaller and needs several triggers to impact the board in a meaningful way. Not to mention all the lost value if it is exiled or bounced to your hand. Nadir Kraken impacts the board quicker and is much more likely to obtain guaranteed value. You are opening yourself up to wrath effects but in my experience, Chasm Skulker just took too long to get going.
In Out
Neither of these Thassas will ever become a creature in my cube so I am treating them as static enchantments only. Thassa 1.0 just doesn't have the impact that Thassa 2.0 does. Conjurer's Closet is already a fringe cube playable and requiring a blue mana is a small price to pay to reduce the overall cost by one. The fun factor has to be considered too as blink is a popular sub-archetype and a little extra support is always appreciated. It's certainly much more exciting than Scry 1 which, while consistent, isn't game breaking. The activated ability is probably a push as it's almost prohibitively expensive but on a good ability. Thassa 1.0 is reasonably costed but doesn't always do anything. Blue has so many evasive creatures that it's usually just not needed or helpful. Thassa 2.0 is a mana more expensive but you are getting more bang for your buck, too.
Didn't Make the Cut
Medomai's Prophecy is glacially slow. Two mana isn't a lot but you have to wait three turns to draw two cards and you only get to do that if you telegraph your next turn's move allowing your opponent to prepare for it. They probably aren't going to be able to flat out prevent what you are doing but it sure lets them mitigate the damage. This is a lot of work for a divination. I'd much rather just play a card draw spell that let's you get your cards immediately. If you are being pressured you don't have time to waste doing nothing and on a mulligan this isn't even a real card. The second and fourth abilities just don't do anything. This just isn't very good.
Alirios, Enraptured is way above curve in terms of power and toughness but in practice, this is a 3/2 for 2U that also provides you with an extra creature to sacrifice. Unless you are abusing this with flicker or sacrifice effects it's not nearly as powerful as it seems. Two vanilla creatures just isn't very good in cube when you don't have access to both of them. Control decks could use this for two chump blockers but I'd much rather just play something that actually stone walls something or pressures your opponent. This doesn't really do either. You are likely to be able to trade with the 3/2 but the 2/3 is just a road block. Not good enough.
Didn't Make the Cut
Technically, Thryx is a powerful card that does what a control deck wants. It acts as a threat that allows you to keep up your interaction with the bonus of easing your mana requirements for late game spells. That last ability really isn't as helpful as it might seem given you already have five mana and there just aren't that many spells that cost over six. This will reliably come down and eat something in combat before posing a relative threat. Four power isn't amazing though so you better be killing something because just casting this for value at the end of your opponent's turn won't be that powerful.
I'm a big fan of modal spells and value them pretty highly. Thassa's Intervention has a couple of good abilities to choose from but suffers from being just way overcosted. In order to make this worthwhile you need to be paying a minimum of four to five mana. That isn't good for a counter spell and it's not particularly good for the dig ability either. Note that you have to cast this for at least four to even be able to draw both cards. Essentially this is going to be a counter spell until you have enough mana to make the draw worthwhile. It just doesn't play that well and is only good in the late game.
Didn't Make the Cut
Thassa's Oracle is going to be a great addition to cubes that push devotion as a defensive option for control and especially those that push a Laboratory Maniac strategy for its redundancy. I don't promote either strategy so it holds very little interest for me.
Watch List
Kiora Bests the Sea God is a reliable control/ramp finisher that doesn't fold to removal or board presence and sets you up nicely should your opponent not die after the initial surge. I don't love the hexproof on the Kraken creature but the card doesn't really function without it and it provides so much inevitability that it is unlikely to be a threat that drags the game out in a frustrating manner; the game is just going to end. The real question is whether you are in the market for a big non creature finisher in blue because even for a control deck, seven mana is a lot and you only have so many cube slots to devote to this type of card. Unfortunately, I don't have any ways to abuse this outside of playing it fairly or ramping into it. I'm going to take a gander at how this performs in other cubes before making a decision because I could go either way. It's going on the watch list.
In Out
Elspeth's Nightmare is an interesting card because all three modes are going to be relevant in cube. Despite it's high power level, there are a lot of creatures that die to the first mode in cube at all phases of the curve. Targeted discard is always good although it loses a little bit of luster when it is telegraphed like this, especially when it excludes card types. Lastly, exiling a graveyard is becoming increasingly useful as more and more graveyard synergies emerge across the color pie. Between Delve, Flashback, Reanimation, Regrowth effects, Escape, etc. there are just a lot of mechanics and effects that care about your graveyard. So is this card cubeable? I think in order for this to be worthwhile you REALLY need to hit on all three abilities. You just can't afford to not have a target for the removal when you've paid three mana and a card. Duress loses a lot of steam as a game goes on as well, so I'm a little hesitant to trust that this will always find a target. I want to give this a shot because I have an easy cut but I wouldn't be surprised if this just ends up being a combination of inconsistent and too expensive.
I had originally added Smallpox as a way to boost the sacrifice deck when it was in its infancy. As it turns out, Smallpox is a land destruction card. The sacrifice deck doesn't really want to lose its resources like this and you are just as likely to be hurt by the land destruction as your opponent since there isn't any redundancy in the cube for that effect. This just doesn't do what I had intended it to do.
In Out
Targeted discard is very good in cube as every card is so impactful. Agonizing Remorse is one of the best two mana discard spells we've seen due to its flexibility and lack of restrictions. Being able to hit the graveyard means this is a dead card a much lower percentage of the time. Preventing a trigger from the graveyard from happening might be less impactful than getting a card from their hand but it's much better than whiffing entirely. You even get the freedom of seeing their hand before making a decision.
Eternal Taskmaster ended up hitting the floor of his potential which is below par. ETB tapped really did matter as did a combination of it's expensive activated ability requiring him to attack and the creature returning to your hand. It really needed to lift just one of its restrictions in order to be more consistently impactful. You just too often can't afford one of the things it asks of you to do what it does. Early game, you don't always have a target for its ability. ETB tapped means it's not a good early blocker when you can't take advantage of the recursion. Later in the game when you do have targets, you often can't afford to take an entire turn off to return something to your hand and this is pretty easily blocked meaning you only ever get one activation off of it.
In Out
Finally! Another completely playable way to mill yourself in cube! An efficient deathtouch body that fills your graveyard and can actually attack if there is a spot to, Mire Triton is great. It's not going to win you a race and it trades with everything but it's going to main deck every black deck that drafts it. Great in control as a roadblock, graveyard decks will like it for filling the yard and having the zombie creature type, it can even see play in aggro as just another beater that is difficult to block. The life gain is a nice bonus that is extra good in black as it has so many way to use its life total as a resource.
Vampire Nighthawk is a relic. The difference between two and three mana in cube is staggering and Nighthawk just doesn't do anything for any deck in particular. Its body is slightly above curve when you consider evasion but black doesn't really care about attacking and there are so many three drops that further a game plan or have a more lasting impact. This folds to removal and its most common role is as a blocker in control decks. Cards are just so much better than they were when Nighthawk was printed. This was a long time coming.
In Out
Staying in our vein of more playable ways to mill yourself, Tymaret Calls the Dead is a pretty big upgrade over Ransack the Lab. You trade a bit of card selection for over twice as much mill, two creatures and an effect that likely will amount to a couple life while still getting your card selection, albeit delayed. I don't think Tymaret Calls the Dead is amazing in a vacuum though, you really do need to be using the graveyard as a resource for this to be playable. Black just does that so well in so many of its builds that it's likely to make the main in most of them. Multiple creatures are always good for sacrifice, to serve as chump blockers or to increase zombie synergies. It's just a solid role player.
In Out
Woe Strider is a great creature for the sacrifice decks and graveyard decks. Sacrifice effects that don't cost mana are so good that even a minor upside like Scry 1 can signficantly impact a game. Escape can be a little awkward in black as it has so many cards that it wants to keep in its graveyard but the bonus here is worth it. In addition to the larger body you get a second creature token providing easy access to more Scry. This is a great value three drop on curve that turns into a soft win condition if the game goes long.
Ammit Eternal, much like Vampire Nighthawk above, is just a generically good creature that rumbles in combat. It doesn't have any particular synergies (besides being a Zombie, which is light) and just is good at attacking. Black doesn't really need something like that to be successful so this is an easy cut.
In Out
Yahenni is another mana-free sacrifice source that has gotten good play in other cubes. It will slide into black aggressive decks and sacrifice decks equally well and it doesn't need more than a counter or so to become a relevant threat. It allows you to overextend with your attackers if you are going wide and rewards you for doing what black does, kill things. This is on the lower end of black three drops in terms of sheer power due to not having real evasion but I'm happy to get another free sacrifice source on a playable card.
Pestilent Spirit was really interesting in Rakdos and just an evasive attacker in every other deck. Exactly as advertised! It's not bad but Yahenni is just more interesting and, again, fits better in the strategies that black employs most successfully while retaining the aggressive slant.
In Out
Nightmare Shepherd is a good sized body for all deck types but it's ability is going to be most functional in those running a lot of creatures. This becomes a must kill target as soon as it is casted and having access to sacrifice effects that you can use in response to remove allows you to get your value even if this is answered. You lose power and toughness but you keep all abilities and effects which is sometimes much more valuable. This doesn't work with tokens (so it doesn't go infinite) but it should serve as a four drop whose value is largely dependent on you being able to surround it with the right pieces. Luckily, cube is filled with them so that shouldn't be hard. The fact that it's such an efficient body, and that black has access to so many sacrifice effects means the worst case scenario is pretty easily mitigated making the floor fairly high.
I really like Marsh Flitter a lot. But I can recognize that it's a pet card. It's really good in the sacrifice deck but largely unplayable in every other shell. It's usually good for 3-6 damage before becoming fodder but many times you end up not getting full use of it because your opponent interacts. It's never been bad but it's also never been amazing unless you are abusing the multiple bodies. This is essentially a Rakdos card and a trap elsewhere. Nightmare Shepherd is going to be good in the Rakdos deck but also be a value engine in a number of other strategies.
Didn't Make the Cut
Treacherous Blessing is going to work very well in a very small subset of decks. The goal is obviously to kill your opponent before you die to your own Treacherous Blessing triggers. Three mana for three cards is a great rate but that drawback is significant. You almost certainly won't have a way to get rid of it so your damage output needs to outrace your spell casting. It's doable, certainly, but it is so restrictive both in deck construction and game play. When this doesn't win you the game it's going to lose you the game and I don't like cards with that dramatic level of swing.
Four mana single target removal isn't something that has performed terribly well in cube in my experience. Despite flowery reviews of Vraska's Contempt it isn't a card that I ever felt good about casting. The upside there is greater than the upside here as a mill for one is incredibly narrow compared to a small life buffer. I don't run Vraska's Contempt already so this isn't getting in either.
Didn't Make the Cut
The Intervention cycle has to be the most disappointing cycle of rares in years for cube. Usually we get at least one that looks good. Erebos's Intervention is way below rate on either end. Exiling a graveyard is worth almost zero mana and this will be used nearly all the time as a bad removal spell. All of these interventions so far have been one slightly below rate effect stapled onto a bad effect (except the blue one which was two way below rate effects). I'd be very intrigued if the effects were reversed but this is an easy pass as it is. Disappointing.
I think Erebos is actually quite powerful in a vacuum as you can really draw quite a lot of cards and it works great in sacrifice decks. The issue is that you just don't have that much life available to trigger this more than a couple times. The cost is fairly restrictive as well. Two mana, sacrificing a creature and paying two life will get to a card and a shrink. Sacrifice decks are slanted pretty hard towards either aggro or control and this card is definitely on the end of control. The shrink isn't impactful enough to actually remove blockers as there aren't a ton of X/1's in cube.. If you could reliably turn this into a creature, or if your black section has a good amount of lifegain, it would be an interesting look but as a four mana enchantment it's a pass.
In Out
Phoenix of Ash is a much stronger version of Chandra's Phoenix. While you can't repeatedly bring it back every turn, the fact that it comes back as a 3/3 that can pump makes it a much bigger threat when it is in play. Red decks shouldn't have a problem being able to bring it back at least once and this threatens a lot of damage if you can pump it even once. I also like that it doesn't force you to go to the face with your burn in order to get your card back. This is not a strict upgrade, but it's a pretty significant boost in power.
In Out
Tectonic Giant is a really interesting card. It doesn't do anything when on ETB but still passes the removal test because you get a trigger if it is targeted. The body isn't amazing but it threatens a quick clock if you are dealing six a turn when it isn't blocked. When it can be blocked you can push unblockable damage or knock the top of your deck for gas. The fact that you don't have to cast the spell right away is amazing because you don't have to warp your game plan around the top of your deck if you have something better going on. The timing means you can get rid of blockers before they are declared if you flip removal and the four toughness means it isn't easily deal with in combat. This is just a good combination of stats and fat that adds up to a good card. I think it's probably on the lower tier of red four drops because it doesn't outright end a game and it's probably better in the more mid range red decks but it certainly does a lot of work.
I really like Goblin Heelcutter for its unique, repeatable effect for red decks as a way to clear blockers without burn. At the time, there wasn't a lot competing for that effect but there have been several cards printed recently that are enough better that I'm now a bit superfluous in the slot. Hardcasting this is really where you want to be so you can keep your mana up for other effects but taking a turn off to cast your vanilla 3/2 is really tough. The mana investment in repeatedly Dashing is also restrictive. It's just too mana intensive for cube now.
In Out
Hey, one of these is playable! Note that I don't actually love this card but I've been unimpressed with Red Sun's Zenith for a while now and this gives you some different options. It's essentially the same card where you get to either burn a creature or a player (in the form of the token) but you can actually use it to kill creatures early. Red Sun's Zenith is just Blaze that you can maybe get back if you are lucky. Since I definitely got it back at least once, I can mark that achievement complete and just upgrade it already.
Didn't Make the Cut
I'm not running a ton of Shock effects and this is an expensive one. The theme with this cycle is that the Scry 2 just isn't worth that much so the initial effect has to be worthwhile on its own. This is outclassed by a ton of cards I'm already not playing so it's an easy pass.
Underworld Breach is a combo card in the vein of Past in Flames so if you are playing that already, you are probably in the market for this. I'm not so this is an easy pass for me.
Didn't Make the Cut
The Akroan War is a really weird card. Aggressive decks might like it as it prevents your opponents from blocking for a turn while taking one of their threats to use against them. Control decks can take a blocker, cause a trade and maybe get a wrath against more aggressive decks (although just playing your own wrath would be much cleaner). It's all just very awkward though. The idea is to kill your opponent before you have to give the creature back to them and while this is best abused with sacrifice effects, and I'd like more playable Threaten effects, this is pretty expensive for a temporary one. Keep in mind that if you steal something that is tapped, it remains tapped until your next upkeep. This means you can't attack or block the turn you steal, giving your opponent a window to just ignore what you stole entirely. This needed to untap and give haste to be worth the investment. Four mana is a lot!
I'm happy right now with where red's answers are to multiple creatures so while Storm's Wrath is a good card it's gotta beat out one of the existing options for mass removal in red. The closest cut would be Sweltering Suns but I've been really impressed with the cycling option for when you are ahead or looking for something specific. Languish wasn't as good as I'd hoped and I imagine this is going to be about the same.
Didn't Make the Cut
Escape is an interesting mechanic that provides a lot of power but for a cost that likely is not synergistic with the rest of your deck in cube. Every deck has a little bit of graveyard synergy (some lots) and if your Escape card is all you have it will be very powerful as long as the Escape cost isn't too high. In practice, Escape of four and below is reasonable and anything higher than that is going to take some extra support to actually achieve reliably. Escape eight is completely unrealistic unless you are playing straight burn or self mill. As a red card, it's gotta be burn. Even then, it's almost unattainable in a normal game and completely impossible to get more than once. Assuming this won't be Escaped very often, it just isn't very good. It's not a safe shortcut to assume you have no hand and the discard is a free cost. Sometimes it will be and it will be pretty good but often it's asking you to get rid of one relevant spell in order to utilize your mana most efficiently and hope it replaces itself. That's not where I want to be. If the Escape was something I could reliably trigger I'd be much more interested.
Purphoros adds some redundancy to the Sneak Attack deck but only being able to cheat a red creature into play is horrifically limiting. I'd be passing either way because I don't like that effect in cube but this is worse than several red five drops I'm not running so, again, an easy pass.
Didn't Make the Cut
Anax promises a lot for only three mana. You get a beater that leaves behind replacement fodder and rewards your other creatures for dying. This works well in the Rakdos shell to power out a lot of tokens but is awkward elsewhere. The fact that the tokens can't block is pretty significant since they aren't good attackers on their own and you can only go so wide with this. The double red and lack of evasion are stingers too as despite the potentially high power this just trades with everything so you are almost never going to actually deal combat damage with it. The power is just a mechanism to get more tokens. That's fine but it doesn't push it in to the competition for red three drops. This is an engine in the vein of Pawn of Ulamog, a card I have never liked for cube.
In Out
I'm not terribly high on Trumpeting Herd but it's been seeing good play in some other cube and the green non-creature spells are much less exciting than all the other colors. Call of the Herd was a cube staple for a long time before it just became unfeasible to take two separate turns off to cast a 3/3 even with the inherent card advantage. This rolls both 3/3 creatures into one spell, albeit for a bigger up front cost. That should be fine as Rebound cards have typically over-performed regardless of what the effects have been. Time to see what the fuss is about.
Birthing Pod being so underwhelming is another reason that I'm open to trying out Trumpeting Herd. Without the redundancy of multiple Birthing Pod effects in a single deck, the archetype just doesn't work. And while there are several ways to accomplish this, it's not worth dedicating multiple cube slots for this one strategy that only works if all of them are in the same pod and end up in the same deck. When the Pod deck doesn't work out you end up just having a hodgepodge of various creatures with no clear strategy or goal. I was hoping Pod would be something that would be easier to back into if you open it late but it turns out you also need to open it early in order to properly prioritize your creature count, curve and effects. It's just too much for a 720 card cube to handle and the payoff isn't worth it.
In Out
Nightpack Ambusher is another card that I was initially lukewarm on that I'm now open to giving a trial run. It's actually a pretty close analogy to Master of the Wild Hunt, a card that I was always a really big fan of. Both act as a singular body who go wide incrementally for the same cost. The difference is that while Master of the Wild Hunt's equity is all tied up in getting these bodies to stick and using them outside of combat, Nightpack Amubusher's equity is all up front. It's very easy to use the 4/4 Flash body to eat a creature so the token making aspect is really gravy. You can strategically pass your turn to start pumping out 3/3 bodies (due to the pump) or you can just get value if you end up running out of gas in your hand. If you don't, it's not the end of the world because you already got a removal spell and a relevant body for your card. Master is a smaller body that guarantees tokens but only if it survives a turn, something that doesn't always happen. When it doesn't, you got nothing for your investment.
In Out
Incubation Druid comes off of the Watch List with an easy upgrade over Sylvan Advocate. An early game mana ramp creature that turns into a late game turbo ramp or relative body, I initially undervalued this flexibility because you wouldn't be able to utilize the body and ramp at the same time. Looking at it another way, it's never a dead card and if you don't need either the ramp or the creature, you always have access to the other. Another card that has gotten good play elsewhere that I'm happily adding.
Sylvan Advocate just doesn't work very well in cube as man lands don't need any support since they are already good enough on their own, the boost doesn't really change their evaluation. As a decent aggro body that grows with the game, it fits awkwardly into what green is trying to do as ramp decks don't care about the efficient creature and green creature decks would rather go wide or tall as opposed to being slightly above curve.
Didn't Make the Cut
There is only so much room for three mana ramp spells in cube and we have two good ones so far in Kodama's Reach and Cultivate as they give you multiple lands and likely fix your mana perfectly for the rest of the game. Omen of the Hunt asks you to trade the extra land for Flash and Scry 2 and it just isn't worth it. The ramp decks don't really care about the Flash and while the Scry 2 is nice for their late game, it's not nearly enough to warrant the inclusion of the card into the list at the cost of something else.
Renata, Called to the Hunt is another awkward fit in part because of green's role in my cube. I've mentioned already that this won't be a very large creature due to my lack of mono-colored support and this +1/+1 counter effect we have seen before. It's a good ability but one that needed to be stapled to something more relevant as opposed to a vanilla body. Again, would be useful but not on its own.
Didn't Make the Cut
Chainweb Aracnir is an extremely defensive body that almost single handedly demolishes flying decks. I don't have a need to punish flyers that much as they haven't felt oppressive against green. Without the flying triggers you really just have a body that grows later on. It's fine but it's not an effect I feel my cube needs, especially when it just doesn't go into many decks organically.
I don't understand some of the love that The First Iroan Games is getting in cube. The big payoff is draw two cards and get a 4/4. That's really good for only three mana but you need a lot to go right for this to all actually happen. Initially, you are looking at getting a 1/1 that can't block and then it turns into a 4/4 if you untap with it. The +1/+1 counters is probably the best part of the card because it's going to be difficult not to get that value. Of course, if your opponent is holding a removal spell of any kind, you likely get nothing because the counters trigger targets. Other cards that have cared about power 4 or greater haven't fared that well because those creatures aren't all over the place like they are in regular limited. This means that it's not a given you get the two cards. The Gold token is, of course, whatever.
Didn't Make the Cut
Arasta is a lot like Chainweb Aracnir in that it serves as a hate card for a specific strategy. While Aracnir hates on the fliers deck and is mediocre elsewhere, Arasta hates on fliers and Izzet spells and is mediocre elsewhere. You are likely going to get a Spider or two before it's answered but the 1/2 tokens aren't going to win you any games. This serves as a bridge to your actual finishers in slower Golgari decks and almost no other deck is interested. It's pretty good in the role it serves but it's very narrow. I can see some Selesnya decks that are less low to the ground playing this but largely it will just sit on the sidelines.
Dryad of the Ilysian Grove is great in a defensive five color strategy alongside Courser of Kruphix and the like. Outside of that shell it's pretty awkward. Without manipulating the top of your library you are going to maybe play one extra land the turn you cast it and that's it. The rest of the time you had better be making the most of your rainbow basics because that's all this card does. Your mileage here is entirely on how much that last part matters and in my cube it's not very impactful as I don't really support the archetype.
Didn't Make the Cut
Nylea's Intervention badly needed a more relevant ability to go along with the massive ramp option. I can see some ramp decks wanting to drop this on turn four or five to get a couple of extra lands or thin their deck in the late game but only if there is a base mode they can rely on. Hurricane underwhelmed because it just doesn't do anything too high a percentage of the time and this has the same problem. The ramp portion isn't good enough to justify a card.
Nylea, Keen-Eyed is essentially a more expensive Duskwatch Recruiter with the caveat that it will sometimes become a creature. Duskwatch Recruiter being a decently sized creature is actually a huge part of its appeal and Nylea isn't going to have that more often than not. The cost reduction still matters but not as much as when it's on a cheaper card as you already have four mana. I just don't think this is a good fit unless you can turn it into a creature.
In Out
Shadowspear is a pretty clear upgrade over Neglected Heirloom as you get lifelink and trample in exchange for a more expensive equip. It's well worth the extra mana and this now should see play in mid-range decks as well as aggro, giving it a wider appeal than Neglected Heirloom. I find draft is at its best when the cards work in multiple archetypes so there are less dead cards because nobody is playing RW aggro, for example.
In Out
Stonecoil Serpent should go well into aggro decks as an all purpose curve filler and in mid-range decks as a larger late game threat due to having trample. The protection from multicolored shouldn't come up enough to be frustrating and having Reach is relevant the turn you cast it if you are staring down fliers so it isn't just useless if you are behind. I've been impressed with this card so far as it almost always gets main decked which is one of the hallmarks of a good cube card.
Lodestone Golem really suffers from me not supporting the artifact.deck archetype. When you aren't making this asymmetrical it ranges from as expected to completely awful. When the other deck has their mana and you are a little behin, you can actually lock yourself out of a game that was otherwise close. This also means this is only played in the lowest to the ground decks as it poses the lowest risk there. It also misleads drafters by suggesting an artifact.deck build exists when it doesn't. That's not a significant problem all the time but artifact.deck is one of the most common cube archetypes so it's a pretty big misleading signpost.
In Out
Dream Trawler is everything I wanted Dragonlord Ojutai to be. It's a large, flying game ending bomb for control decks that keeps you supplied with gas while protecting itself from removal. The biggest difference between the two is the functional hexproof. Dragonlord Ojutai can be a little frustrating when players decide to turtle up behind it's hexproof instead of attacking. It's a legitimate strategy but can be infuriatingly non-interactive, especially when the coast is secretly clear and they are just leaving value on the table. Dream Trawler is at its best when it's actually ending a game but opponents do still have ways to interact with it, even if it's unlikely that they can actually kill it. It's a lot like Aetherling in that respect, but cheaper and more restrictive. The lifelink is a huge addition as it can pull you out of killing range the turn you cast it, much like Baneslayer Angel does.
Didn't Make the Cut
Haktos is the exact type of card I don't like playing with or against. This is extremely close to True-Name Nemesis in practice and the onerous mana cost doesn't change that. Once this is in play, a large percentage of the time your opponent will just concede as they can't interact with it and the six power means the game ends in a turn or two. If four is chosen there are almost no ways to deal with it outside of combat or wraths. I'm not saying this is broken though, either. This dies to almost every removal spell and trades with every creature that can block it. It either wins the game on its own or it dies immediately. I just don't see a single game scenario where this is interesting, interactive or fun.
Didn't Make the Cut
Dimir is one of the few guilds that doesn't have an active planeswalker representative in my cube. This is because I don't support the artifact deck, otherwise we would have a Tezzeret of some flavor in here. Unfortunately, Ashiok isn't going to get the job done either. It's combination of abilities just don't add up to a good cube card. I don't care about mill so its plus is just make a creature which is incredibly boring. It's minus is Recoil but exiled which I love and the ultimate is pretty impactful given the tokens exile on attack or block and not just combat damage. This is just another boring planeswalker that falls into the plus to token, minus to kill and whatever ultimate. I don't need to add things like this unless they somehow support an existing archetype. This is just generically good and nothing more. Also, I just like the existing control finisher options in Dimir already.
Didn't Make the Cut
I'm really torn on how I feel about Polukranos, Unchained. On one hand, it's a very powerful card that is much more powerful if you are able to fill your graveyard, which happens to be Golgari's key strategy. On the other hand, I'm not sure where I stand in terms of density of enablers and payoffs. I can cut a powerful enabler (of which I would actually like more of) or I can cut a payoff (which I don't like less than this). I could also cut a generic removal spell but they see a ton of play and work really well in the strategy too. Beyond being unsure of my cuts, Polukranos serves as a Plague Wind that you pay for in installments. It doesn't seem likely to actually win a game until you have killed all their creatures anyway and after you do, it's not big enough to swing through a medium sized creature. Not having trample makes it doubly awkward when you Escape it and even in Golgari you are unlikely to be able to Escape more than once. It also doesn't give you any value until you untap and are able to fight, leaving you open to removal. Poly-K 2.0 is very impactful but very mana intensive and it doesn't always end a game quickly. It promises inevitability and is best when you already have a board presence to clear blockers or as a grindy value machine that clears away troublesome utility creatures. I think it needed to be less reliant on the Escape clause because right now, it's kind of underwhelming until you Escape it and even then, requires a turn of setup to attain real value.
In Out
Domri, Anarch of Bolas has really impressed in my limited experience with the card. It just fits so well into the complex Gruul strategy of smash, smash. Ramp that doubles as counterspell protection is perfect for pressuring your opponent and the fight trigger should fit well with Gruul's larger creatures. The global pump has been the thing that puts it over the top as a lot of Gruul's early game threats really appreciate the extra power boost allowing them to attack through the more defensive blockers that control deploys or to shorten the clock by even a single turn. Only costing three mana allows you to get this in play before your opponent has a chance to really pressure it or it allows you to cast it along with a small creature later in the game.
Arlinn Kord always seemed to promise limitless flexibility and decisions with a wide gameplay variety due to just how many abilities she possesses. In practice, a lot of her abilities are walled off behind the flip mechanic. If you want to commit to the board the turn you cast her you must flip her, which turns off her pump ability and token making on the next turn. That's really awkward when you want to follow this up with a large creature that you can no longer give haste. You are then limited to removal or a global pump regardless if that's what the situation calls for. This can be really awkward when your opponent is posing an inconvenient board state. When rolling, Arlinn feels ridiculously good, but it only takes one sequence break to ruin the flow. It's all just too finicky and requires a specific board progression that's sometimes out of your control. Domri is more controllable and provides a more consistent threat.
Didn't Make the Cut
Klothys, God of Destiny will, as always, never become a creature. Looking at this as a regular enchantment, it's all of a sudden much less appealing. Not having clear control over the graveyards makes this an awkward play at times. Early game it's unlikely you will have much in the graveyard to trigger this making it a do nothing enchantment until the game progresses. This means that despite the reasonable casting cost, it's not a three drop. Later in the game Klothys presents a realistic clock if you can keep exiling non-lands but the unreliable nature of the ability prevents it from being truly abuseable unless you have a curated environment. Exiling your own graveyard is also fighting the graveyard strategies that do exist in Gruul. I can see this going up in value in the future as Gruul continues to develop its graveyard identity but for now I'd rather run with something that won't be a dead card a fair percentage of the time.
Didn't Make the Cut
Kunoros, beyond having a name that I will never be able to pronounce correctly, is such an awkward card. It hates on graveyard strategies while being in the color that most cares about having one. It's a keyword soup creature in a guild that would much rather have something going wide to make sure of its token strategy or controlling nature. It has a nice combination of abilities and power/toughness but that graveyard hate is just so unnecessary. Besides hating on a strategy that I don't think is overwhelming the cube environment, it is going to turn off a bunch of your own synergies. Orzhov pulls in a bunch of directions that this doesn't.
Athreos, Shroud-Veiled is the buy a box promo, in case you don't recognize it. Unless you are turning this into a creature, it's just a bad Debtor's Knell as you have to jump through a bunch of hoops to maybe get a creature back each turn. I'm not even running Debtor's Knell so this is an easy pass for me.
Didn't Make the Cut
Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger is such a disappointment. The initial cast is going to be pretty good if you are able to get to it early in the game. Afterwards though, it's all going to depend on how ahead you are. If you are on the verge of winning, it's going to go a long way towards dealing the last couple points of damage. If you are behind, it just doesn't really do anything to pull you back from the brink. It just seems a bit win more and while repeated discard is powerful against certain strategies, it's also not really in line with what Rakdos is doing. Rakdos struggles with its mana at the best of times so the onerous casting cost and Escape cost really is a significant requirement. If you can't hit escape for whatever reason, it's a big loss as most of this value is tied up getting the creature.
Didn't Make the Cut
Bronzehide Lion is a remnant of any number of Watchwolf type creatures that are above rate with a minor upside. The upside here would be more significant if anyone actually cared about the body. A 3/3 for GW isn't so good that people are going to be aching to kill it and while you can play the combat game with it quite well, Selensya decks also really want to be curving out so it can make it quite awkward on your mana. The death trigger is actively unexciting, too. It's going to be beneficial but it just does nothing unless you already have a meaningful body in play. It's just an awkward card that doesn't particularly help any of the weaknesses that Selesnya has or make its decks better.
Calix is easily one of the worst planeswalkers ever printed in terms of cube. It's entirely dependent on having enchantments in play and that is the least represented card type in cube by a fair margin. It's just never going to do anything. It's a shame that both Boros and Selesnya were whiffs this set because they are suddenly the two guilds most in need of a power infusion.
In Out
Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath is much more exciting than Kroxa. Like with Kroxa, the inital cast is likely going to be very good. The difference here is that the other triggers should be equally as useful due to the ubiquitous nature of card draw. Simic decks are usually a bit slower than most combinations so the lifegain is uniquely good here as well. The escape is still realistic to use at least once and while Uro lacks evasion, the trigger is good enough to offset the lack of game ending abilities. The inevitability is real.
Uro is just a significant power upgrade over Temporal Spring even if it doesn't end up being as impactful as it seems. Finally, Simic has no placeholder cards remaining.
Didn't Make the Cut
Labyrinth of Skophos is essentially an improved Mystifying Maze as you no longer have to worry about the creature you target triggering any abilities, it's just removed from combat. I was pretty high on Mystifying Maze as a fair Maze of Ith until it just got pushed out in terms of sheer power and how demanding on your resources it is. If you want to use it it will take your full turn, preventing you from committing to the board while working well with reactive spells unless they just decide to attack and make you make a decision. Not being able to tap for colored mana is also a real cost, especially in decks that are splashing. Mystifying Maze wasn't good enough in large part because of how expensive it is and this doesn't change that part of the equation so it's an easy pass.
Theros Beyond Death was one of the least impactful sets in a long time in terms of cube. There just aren't that many singularly powerful cards or cards that support existing strategies. A part of this is due to such a large percentage of the set being occupied by cards that care about Enchantments and Devotion, things that just don't have a fair representation in my cube. I even looked through Unsanctioned in hopes of finding a hidden gem and came up empty as all those card had the same problem. They are either too wacky for comfort or focus on things like rolling dice or caring about aspects of cards I don't want people to have to worry about paying attention to. Bummer. The next set is Ikoria Lair of Behemoths. Let's hope Gruul and Boros get some love as their gold cards are falling a bit behind in terms of excitement. Either way, I expect to see some crazy creatures and a ton of cards to at least discuss, as always. Until then, happy cubing!
